


somebody else

by sancrevm



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Angst, Cuddling, Fluff, Happy Ending, Jealous Yeosang, M/M, Woosan, jealous yeosang over woosan, woosang - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-24
Updated: 2021-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-25 15:15:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30091077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sancrevm/pseuds/sancrevm
Summary: yeosang has been in love with wooyoung for months but is too scared to admit it. wooyoung is also in love with yeosang but doesn’t realise, it’s only after yeosang starts to ignore him does wooyoung discern his true feelings.
Relationships: Choi San & Jung Wooyoung, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Choi San/Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang, Jung Wooyoung & Kang Yeosang, Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang, Kang Yeosang & Kim Hongjoong, Kang Yeosang & Park Seonghwa, Kang Yeosang/Kim Hongjoong, Kang Yeosang/Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa, Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	somebody else

yeosang would call himself a relatively calm person. his temper was one that wasn’t easily challenged and his true emotions were usually hidden as means to protect himself from heartbreak. 

he wouldn’t necessarily calm himself a liar, he just chose not to share extremely personal matters that he wasn’t comfortable sharing. though this did get better with his group members — friends — as they were his family, his love was a measurement of his trust and he trusted them all exceedingly. 

but, there was one truth yeosang feared he could never share with anyone because it included one of his group members and not to mention his best friend. this truth he would only share with himself, and that was that he was in love with jung wooyoung. 

yeosang couldn’t pinpoint an exact date to his newly fluttering feelings. granted, being wooyoung’s best friend for a multitudinous amount of years already solidified the fact that he loved him. but the difference was evident to him now because that he didn’t just merely love wooyoung, he was in love with him. 

yeosang was utterly and implicitly in love with his best friend. he loved his laugh, no matter if your day was filled with melancholic sadness, just hearing a second of that hyena laugh made it all better. woo’s natural,  
flirtatious personality brought a heavy blush on yeosang’s face and his caring and affectionate tone melted the boy’s every emotion. 

he attempted to ward off these feelings with a sheer covering of ‘he’s just my friend, i bet anyone else would react this way.’ but the problem was, no one else was reacting the way yeosang was. and so before he made it excruciatingly obvious, yeosang pushed down every emotion he built up for the boy. 

though he tried to play the role of the playful best friend which he was before, it just wasn’t the same. every time wooyoung would come even close to yeosang, the boy’s heart would begin thumping at an extreme rate, sweat built on his body from intense nerves and no matter what he did, yeosang couldn’t stop staring at either woo’s eyes or lips. those actions clearly detailed a person in love. 

and so in a last, painstaking resort to stop his secret from being revealed from his own actions, yeosang began to distance himself from wooyoung. at first, the said boy barely even noticed. him and san were the equivalent to two peas in a pod and they were together nearly all of the time. though this hurt yeosang extremely, he stuck to his distancing. 

at first, woo may not have noticed, but everyone else did. seonghwa’s eyes wouldn’t fail him when he saw again and again the obvious heartbreak yeosang’s eyes portrayed at wooyoung and san harmlessly flirting, though his face portrayed nothing. 

when the eldest hyung shared his thoughts with the leader after his own feelings began to shift towards guttering sadness for yeosang, he wasn’t shocked to discover hoongjoong saw the exact same events. 

they all noticed how exceptionally quite yeosang had become. though he was a naturally shy person, it wasn’t just in public he would begin to act like this, but in private too. his door would remain shut and he only left to venture to the dorm when he was in need of food or water, and even that was minimal. 

though they tried a number of times to talk to yeosang, they couldn’t find the root of the problem. though their loose guesses included wooyoung, there had been no fights or even any talks to cause yeosang to act like this. 

but then the day came when wooyoung finally noticed yeosang’s behaviour, of lack thereof. on their day off, san had gone to a restaurant with yunho, leaving wooyoung to idly do something himself. thoughts occurred to him of how little he had seen of yeosang the past week or two. 

surprisingly, yeosang was in the kitchen making ramen and his features didn’t even move when wooyoung entered, though his entire body on the inside was set aflame with longing and affection. 

though yeosang didn’t particularly notice because of his want to solely focus on his ramen ( because if he did glance at wooyoung, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop ) wooyoungs eyes lingered a little too long on yeosang. 

snapping out of it, however, wooyoung leant on the counter with a dazzling smile to accompany his actions. “yeosang-ah,” the said boy’s heart swelled immensely at his name being spoken in a sultry tone. “what are you doing today? are you still obsessed with that game?” 

yeosang, in fact, was still obsessed with that game. but he was only obsessed to keep his love for woo at bay, it worked for a varying amount of time but the second he switched it off, his mind would wander to wooyoung and how good he looked that day. 

realising he hadn’t yet replied, yeosang allowed himself a quick glance before returning to the stove. “uh, yeah.” 

a pathetic response he had to admit. but he had to remind himself that protecting his heart had to include short replies. 

frowning slightly at his short reply, wooyoung was only left with a desire to hear yeosang’s voice more. the perkiness was slightly hindered in his voice now, but it was still present. 

“well, can i join you? i used to love watching you play.” as soon as the last sentence left his mouth, wooyoung was left with a realisation that he hadn’t seen yeosang game in quite a while. a hollow feeling started to fill him. 

at the request, yeosang wanted to desperately to say yes. the word buzzed around his heart that he almost unhinged himself to say it right then and there, but his brain stopped him. protect your heart, it said. and so, plastering a false and cold tone, he didn’t look at wooyoung while he said, “don’t you have somewhere to be with san?” 

if only yeosang turned to see the expression lying on wooyoung’s face, for he resembled the exact image of a sad puppy. woo’s brows furrowed, not exactly at the sentence said but the way it was said, yeosang never spoke to him like that. when he spoke to woo, his voice was filled with adoration, not aloofness. 

but before wooyoung could reply, seonghwa and hoongjoong had jovially walked in and were already immersed within their own conversation. sensing the hostility in the air, however, they faltered, but only quickly until yeosang’s ramen was finally done and he sped out of the room. 

seonghwa and hongjoong didn’t fail to notice the pained look that had permanently stricken wooyoung’s face, and it was only made worse when he too left the room, leaving a pained aura behind him. 

the two elders shared a look of concern, knowing soon, one of them would have to talk to either yeosang or wooyoung to discuss the newly found hostility.

this sort of behaviour exacted from yeosang only one more week before wooyoung had had enough of it. upon leaving the kitchen that day, wooyoung reflected on just how little he had interacted with yeosang the past week or two. and so to make up for his past behaviour, wooyoung desperately attempted to feel close to sangie again.

only, the latter was making it extremely difficult. short replies were once again given to wooyoung’s eager questions, he barely held eye contact for a long period of time and the two were never alone in a room together.

worry started to gnaw within wooyoung, simply because all these signs pointed to an obvious hatred. but, this was clearly not the case for yeosang, he knew it was hurting both himself and woo. however, the repeated phrase of ‘protect your heart’ was on his mind constantly, because he knew, wooyoung would never feel the same for him.

_____________

it was again a day off for ateez and yeosang had planned once again to just wallow in his own desolation, but the  
world had other plans for him.

on his way to the kitchen, yeosang had a clear view of something that made tears well up and his heart sink in his body. it was no other than wooyoung and san cuddling on a couch. 

clearly, to anyone else this was a harmless action. anyone who knew wooyoung acknowledged his affectionate nature, he simply loved giving out warmth. 

though deep down, yeosang’s more sensible self recognised this, it still didn’t stop his heart from breaking. especially because wooyoung and san were as close as one could imagine two souls to be. 

the two oblivious boys didn’t notice the clear heartbreak displaying itself in the form of yeosang and it only took the said boy a couple of seconds to snap out of focus, but he wasn’t fast enough. 

seonghwa was standing just outside of yeosangs peripheral vision and he didn’t fail to notice the pain driving through the boy. as soon as yeosang turned his head away to see his hyung staring at him, he knew he had just let out his biggest secret without even opening his mouth. 

though seonghwa had guessed a while ago the reason for yeosang’s hostile nature, this obvious scene confirmed his suspicions. so before yeosang could return to his dorm and cry silently, seonghwa strode up to him and decided to implant his role as their eldest hyung once and for all. 

“come on, yeosang-ah. let’s talk.” 

and talk they did. not there, because yeosang would quite plainly cease to exist if wooyoung even overhead a word of his confession. 

seonghwa took yeosang to where no one could find them, a beautiful view of an outlook within the trees. far away from their dorm. 

as soon as they sat upon the ground, seonghwa let yeosang digest everything he was obviously planning to say and let him speak first. 

yeosang’s doe like eyes were dotted with tears when he raised his head to look at seonghwa. and the elder understood he needed to gently push yeosang to talk, otherwise the two were going to sit here forever. 

“do you want to tell me why you’ve been acting oddly, yeosang-ah?” 

it wasn’t until his hyung spoke the words that yeosang understood just how desperately he needed to say the words that had been plaguing him for so long. 

“i’m—“ yeosang faltered. the hesitation was clear in his voice and seonghwa noticed it too. he raised a hand to his shoulder and squeezed encouragingly, nodding his head to reassure the younger. 

feeling slightly more confident, yeosang tried to raise his voice despite it still coming out in a whisper. “i’m in love with wooyoung.” 

his eyes remained rooted on the ground, but no shock resonated off of seonghwa. he remained in the exact same comforting position, almost displaying he already was aware of the truth. 

sensing this, yeosang raised his eyes to meet hwa’s once again. “did you... did you know?” 

gently, his hyung nodded his head. every movement he took was one of grace. “yeah, me and hoongjoong guessed it a while ago. we just didn’t want to say anything in case it made you uncomfortable.”

yeosang himself had to admit that the multiple actions he took to hide his true feelings were built methodically, but if someone truly knew him, they could see straight through it, as seonghwa and hongjoong did. 

yeosang simply didn’t have a response for seonghwa, but it wasn’t discomfort he shown so his hyung asked another question. “what are you going to do now?” 

whipping his head up to hwa, he thought that it was obvious what his next move was, which was to do absolutely nothing. 

“nothing.” the word was one filled with hollowness. 

seonghwa’s eyes turned even more sympathetic as he whispered his next words, “yeosang—“ 

yeosang sensed the hesitation in the elder’s tone and immediately began shaking his head. “i can never tell him, hyung. wooyoung won’t ever feel the same.” 

pity was entwining with seonghwa’s already mixed emotions displaying his face. “do you know that for certain, sangie?” 

when yeosang didn’t reply, hwa furthered his point with a gentle tone. “you might not have seen it, but wooyoung’s been devastated over you ignoring him. he doesn’t know why and it’s hurting him.” 

“he looks fine to me,” yeosang scoffed slightly. “he was just cuddling with san before, he doesn’t care about me anymore.” 

jealousy was very much on the surface with yeosangs venomous words, but seonghwa knew that his hurt was the reason for his distressful tone. 

“yeosang, look at me.” the younger slowly lifted his eyes to his hyung. “wooyoung does not feel like that. he cares for you more than you can imagine. him and san are just friends, never forget that you’re his best friend.” 

though the last words were meant to comfort, a hint of pain reflected in sangie’s eyes. “and that’s all i’ll ever be to him.” his sentence was near inaudible due to the whispering. 

“sangie—“ regret immediately swelled in seonghwa but before he could say anything else, yeosang just looked at him with tear stricken eyes. 

“can we just forget about it, hyung?” 

seonghwa just nodded and the two stayed there until yeosang felt ready to put his mask on again and pushed his feelings down. 

_____________

it was merely a week later until wooyoung had finally reached his breaking point. after yet again a constant aloofness front from yeosang, he felt like he was going insane. 

he stood outside of yeosang’s shared room with yunho, hand clenched and eyes closed to build courage to finally knock on and just confront the other boy. wooyoung chose to specifically talk to yeosang while yunho was out. 

it felt like it took an eternity until his hand rapped on the door. muffled movements sounded out of the room before the door was slightly opened to reveal a disheveled looking yeosang. 

he wore a black hoodie, his face was hidden in the shadows of his hood but the look of clear incuriosity was displayed on his face. before the other boy could speak, wooyoung piped up his next words before he lost his nerve. “let me in, yeosang.” 

obeying silently, wooyoung stepped into the room and closed the door while yeosang returned to his bed and adamantly avoided eye contact with woo. 

wooyoung waited a couple of seconds before speaking up, “why have you been ignoring me, yeosang-ah?” 

shock wasn’t a word to describe yeosang’s expression, just a sense of tightness. he still didn’t look at wooyoung while he replied, “i haven’t been ignoring you.” 

“bullshit!” wooyoung couldn’t keep the heat out of his voice. “you’ve barely spoken to me the past couple of weeks, you don’t look at me anymore and you don’t ever want to anything with me.” 

yeosang finally raised his eyes to wooyoung and attempted to keep his cool demeanour. “why do you care?” 

the question was obviously not what the younger boy expected, for he scoffed slightly and still kept his voice somewhat raised. “why do i care? you’re my best friend yeosang, of course i would care!” 

“well, you certainly haven’t acted like it.” 

yeosang stood, but wooyoung’s eyes didn’t leave him once. he managed to breath out a, “what?” 

weeks of frustration started to build within yeosang, all the tears shed over the younger boy because of his helpless feelings began to topple. “admit that you don’t care about me anymore! you only care about san.”

“yeosang, that’s ridiculous.” wooyoung’s voice flickered with a hint of hurt with his next words, “why are you acting like this?” 

“because i’m in love with you!” yeosang’s outburst took even him by surprise, but it was far too late to take back his words. wooyoung simply looked at him with extreme astonishment. 

before he knew it, tears began streaming down his face, his body agreeing with his helplessness in the moment. it took him a few moments before he realised he had utterly ruined his friendship with the younger boy. before he could embarrass himself further, he pushed past wooyoung in reach for the door. 

at the sudden movement, wooyoung’s focus finally streamed back to normal. before he could reach out to grab yeosang, though, the other boy had already flung the door open and was in search of the exit. 

“yeosang! yeosang, wait!” his shouts were a useless attempt, for the boy didn’t stop. yeosang was out of wooyoung’s sight with swift quickness. 

all wooyoung was left with was a stunned silence and his fluttering heart at yeosang’s confession. 

_____________

yeosang had no recollection of how he ended up in that same clearing of the trees seonghwa had took him to that week before. 

he sat on the mud stricken ground with his head hanging down, staring at nothing as tears streamed down his face. ‘how could i be so stupid?’ he thought. 

his phone buzzed with multiple missed calls and messages, but he didn’t bother replying to any of them. he knew it would only worry them that he was not answering, but yeosang was only caught up with his doomed thoughts. 

he didn’t know how he was supposed to face wooyoung or his members ever again. the burning feeling of shame was alight within his body as he tried with every last shed of his dignity to push it away. 

another tear slid down his face, he couldn’t stop his body from reacting so vividly. he didn’t know how long he had been there for, but the only indication was the sky growing slighter darker. 

yeosang didn’t know when he would head back to the dorm, he wanted to put off seeing wooyoung for as long as possible, but the universe didn’t want to work with him. 

at yeosang’s sudden exit, the other seven members went off the knowledge of wooyoung’s and his argument to decipher where he would go. the only part wooyoung left out was yeosang’s confession. 

when these places turned up empty, seonghwa’s last idea of yeosang going to the outlook in the trees had popped in his head. once his shared this with the members, wooyoung decided to go on his own. he was sure yeosang wouldn’t want to be clouded by people right now and besides, he needed to talk to him privately. 

when he found yeosang, wooyoung’s chest tightened with pain for the silent cries the boy was emitting. yeosang didn’t notice his presence and for a few moments he was unsure how to approach him. all wooyoung wanted to do was hug him senseless. 

“yeosang?” wooyoung’s voice was hoarse from the tears he had shed beforehand. yeosang’s head whipped up with the sudden appearance of his best friend. 

all yeosang simply said was, “wooyoung.” his voice no more than a whisper. 

silence filled the void and for what seemed like a lifetime the two did nothing but stare at each other with shared sense of longing and aching. 

then finally, yeosang spoke up. “how’d you find me?” 

“seonghwa hyung.” wooyoung couldn’t stand to even glance away from the other boy while he spoke. “we looked everywhere for you and when we couldn’t find you, he said you might be here.” 

yeosang simply nodded and wooyoung had to fight the hurt out of his voice with his next words. “everyone’s really worried, yeosang.” 

a tear slipped from yeosang involuntarily. “i’m sorry.” 

wooyoung finally decided to slowly move forward, he sat next to the other boy and looked at the view beyond. he had no idea how he was supposed to approach the inevitable topic, so all he managed was, “me and san aren’t together.” 

yeosang’s eyes flicked to wooyoung. though a part of his brain had always reasoned with him that both wooyoung and san were naturally flirty people, so they would in turn be affectionate with each other, it still didn’t stop him overanalysing it. 

“w-what?” yeosang couldn’t help his stumble. 

wooyoung lifted his eyes to meet yeosang’s. “me and him are just friends, sangie. yeah, he’s gay too but... our relationship isn’t like that. besides, i’m in love with someone else.” 

the small hint of hope depleted from yeosang’s bones at the last sentence being said. he could feel his eyes filling with tears again and a hollow sadness settled in the pit of his stomach. yeosang could no longer look at wooyoung and had to force his eyes to face the ground as he said, “who?” 

“you.” yeosang’s eyes snapped up to wooyoung’s and found the younger with a comforting smile lying on his face, a blush started to rise on his face and before wooyoung could chicken out, he leant forward to place his lips on yeosang’s. 

the kiss, in simple terms, was perfect. despite the saltiness from yeosang’s tears faintly adoring his lips, he was too enamoured by wooyoung’s soft lips fitting perfectly with his. 

both his and wooyoung’s hearts were racing and their eagerness got the better of them. it felt like an eternity before the two pulled away, wooyoung rested his head on yeosang’s and simply gazed in his eyes. 

he was too stunned to speak and so yeosang in turn settled in the moment, not believing in a million years that this was happening. 

but it was. the boy who had taken up his thoughts the past couple of weeks, making his heart beat at rapid lengths and whose overall existence just made yeosang head over heels in love with him. 

what made it even more real, though, and what truly solidified the moment as the happiest yeosang had been in a long time was what wooyoung muttered next. “i love you too.”


End file.
